'Birther' suit targets Obama's Calif. ballot slot

[caption id="attachment_83511" align="alignright" width="140" caption="Issues are being raised over whether Romney is a natural-born citizen."][/caption]

Perhaps most interesting in the suit filed Tuesday targeting President Barack Obama's California ballot slot is the suggestion that Mitt Romney may also be ineligible.

A write-in Republican for president and the chairman of American Independent Party of California are among the plaintiffs, several of whom have previously alleged that Obama is not a natural-born citizen and so does not qualify to be president of the United States. They are now suing to have the state verify all presidential candidates' eligibility, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

And even if Obama was born in this country, he might not qualify as a natural-born citizen because his father was born in Kenya, according to some.

That latter interpretation of "natural-born citizen" - contrary to the commonly accepted interpretation that it includes most everybody born on U.S. soil - would also apply to Romney, whose father was born in a Mormon colony in Mexico. The suit mentions "questions concerning the eligibility" of Romney, according to the Times.

The Constitution does not spell out a definition for "natural-born citizen" and there is little case law clarifying the issue. Among the few cases is an 1896 Supreme Court decision which found that Wong Kim Ark – and all other children born in the U.S. of “resident aliens” – were natural-born citizens under the 14th Amendment, regardless of where their parents were born.

The attorney handling the suit is Gary Kreep, who earlier had a falling-out with Laguna Niguel attorney and U.S. Senate candidate Orly Taitz - among the best known of lawyers pressing the case of Obama's birthright. I see no indication that Taitz is involved in this latest suit, but there's plenty to read about her if you're interested.

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